Karizma: Reborn

Chapter 7: Ryleigh

Ryleigh walked in the woods about three miles from Lukas' pack. She rolled her shoulders while she walked. She wore a white tank top with a pair of blue shorts, her crimson hair free against her shoulders. It had been one week since the night of her first hunt, and the night of countless love-making sessions with Kristopher. She had been both fascinated and repulsed that the act of the hunt had aroused her but impressed with how much endurance she had to satiate her arousal. Kristopher had succumbed to fatigue sooner than she had, but she had joined him for sleep; she did not want to hurt his feelings by outlasting him.

Lukas had been distant when she had met with him the following day. She had assumed that something was wrong, either with her, or with how her hunt had commenced. She remembered him grabbing her and licking her throat, but neither of them had spoken about it. Maybe the blood triggered his own hunger, she thought. She had informed Lukas of the conversation that she had with Naomi and Nathan, about how they wanted to keep her alive for the next fifty years to mature her blood and her magic. To use her as the weapon in this war against humanity, how they wanted to use her to keep this war last longer than it will now. Lukas grew more cold after that conversation, but they had agreed to training sessions to prepare for the war. Ryleigh had denied that, but Lukas reminded her that training her wolf was different than training her magic.

Ryleigh and her wolf seemed to be adjusting rather well. Her wolf surfaced enough to allow Ryleigh to hear the birds chirping one mile east and to smell the grass beneath her feet as if it was directly in front of her face. Her wolf had not fully emerged since the night of the hunt, but the two had begun to understand each other. Drawing her claws and her canines still hurt, but Ryleigh knew that the pain of breaking skin and bone to birth more bones was not a process that would never stop hurting. She had expected her first time shifting into her wolf to hurt more than it did, but Lukas had told her that she was lucky; the wolf emerging for want, rather than necessity, was always gentler. He assured her that he would help her train for that as well. Ryleigh knew that her wolf would emerge out of necessity against Naomi and Nathan, and she had to be ready for that.

Ryleigh stopped walking and turned around. She faintly heard Lukas' pack and sighed. She needed to be out of range from his pack to utilize her magic the way that she wanted to. She turned and continued, farther from the pack. She wanted to stretch her magic and search for Naomi, but she could not jeopardize the pack. Ryleigh would reinstate her cloak first, but the slightest mistake could trigger the surge in her power, and Naomi would be able to track her. Ryleigh needed to be cautious because Lukas was right; she was their secret weapon. To the vampire world, the last Karizma had died. She could not reveal herself to the world, not yet.

Bailey still had not woken. Ryleigh had communicated with Bailey again, and Bailey assured her that she was fine. Ryleigh had heard Bailey's heartbeat strengthen and knew that Bailey was speaking the truth. Ryleigh wanted Bailey to awake more than anything; her sister would not be able to understand Ryleigh's transition with lycanthropy, but Ryleigh so desperately wanted to talk to someone who understood her. Kristopher understood her well and said that these new cravings and desires were normal for her, but Ryleigh felt like something was missing. In her repeated lust-filled sessions with Kristopher, while satiated, she felt hollow, empty, as if Kristopher had not been fully present during the session, and she had never felt that before. She had always felt both full and satiated by Kristopher, addicted to him; now, she was addicted to the feeling, and left empty. It scared her. She loved Kristopher so much, but it was like her body did not reciprocate those feelings. Until the hunt, she had not even been aroused by Kristopher; after the hunt and her arousal fully diminished, it never came back. Her and Kristopher would kiss and touch, but it fell in a void on her skin. Daily, she told herself that the feeling would pass, that it was her wolf's response to being around a vampire so much, and daily, the feeling remained.